U.S.-French rivalry moves to the water

S.J. Cahn

There are a few long-running rivalries in the sport of surfing.

The United States versus Australia. Hawaii versus California.

Northern California versus Southern California. In Santa Cruz, even,

its west side versus east side.

But France versus the U.S.? That’s a new one. And it will be on

full, international display Friday night at the Billabong XXL Global

Big Wave Awards.

The big wave awards, the brainchild of Newport Beach’s Bill Sharp,

have shaped up this year, strangely, along lines that might have gone

unnoticed had France and the U.S. not divided so notoriously over the

U.S. war in Iraq.

“I wouldn’t want to be accused of exploiting an international

incident,” Sharp said Wednesday, hours before he was to meet and

decide the award’s winner. “But I recognized that some journalists

would see it in a broader context.”

That recognition has been a hallmark of Sharp’s career as a leader

in promoting big wave surfing. It was Sharp, a Corona del Mar High

graduate, who saw the potential for big-wave surfing back in the

1997-98 El Nino winter and started what is now a five-year contest

tradition.

The event carefully sanctions surfers, who are typically pulled

into waves behind personal watercraft, and brings together a panel of

judges to determine which wave from the winter was the biggest.

This year’s five finalists for the $60,000 prize are Fred Basse,

of France, for a wave ridden at Belharra Reef, France on March 10;

Cheyne Horan, of Australia, for a wave at Jaws, Maui, Hawaii on Nov.

26, 2002; Noah Johnson, of the U.S., also that day at Jaws; Sebastian

St. Jean, of France, from the day at Belharra Reef; and Makua

Rothman, of the U.S., for the day at Jaws.

Like the contest’s waves, the event itself builds bigger and

bigger each year.

“This year we decided to expand the XXL event to a global format,

and it has become truly that,” said Graham Stapelberg, vice president

of marketing for Billabong USA. “We’ve seen huge waves in Hawaii,

California, France and Mexico, ridden by surfers from the USA,

Australia, Europe and Brazil. It’s given every key area of the

surfing world something to cheer about.”

Surfers from all those areas will have a chance to see the awards

ceremony. After an unexpected amount of interest (and far more than

the 1,500 seats available at the Grove Theater in Anaheim, Sharp

said), organizers decided to do a live Web cast, scheduled to begin

at 7:30 p.m. Friday at www.BillabongXXL.com.

“It’s really grown up from a little, clicky thing,” Sharp said.

“We’ve worked hard to create a really mature show.”

Next year’s contest, he added, will be bigger, once again, with

more categories.

“We’re looking at ways to expand the concept,” he said.